Thanksgivukkah & American Jews Colossal Blunder

Has Hanukkah in America become a testament to assimilation?

Ever since I became a dad I've had mixed feelings about Hanukkah. The holiday itself is inarguably beautiful. We kindle a flame to commemorate a miracle, we gaze at its light, and we are forbidden to use that light for any other purpose. We thus celebrate God's light itself – the first thing God created in our world and, as Einstein taught us, the raw material from which everything else is fashioned. In kindling the Hanukkah light, we commune with the Divine.

The problem is that American Hanukkah has become anything but divine. Conscious of the great fun our friends are having with Christmas, American Jews fill the gap with eight nights of presents, glittering decorations, and in some homes, Christmas trees beside the hanukkiyah as a vehicle for even more presents.

In our house, we'd like to cut out the presents entirely, but we don't want our kids to associate being Jewish with getting ripped off, so we compromise with books. Still, wrapped boxes flow in from well-meaning loved ones, and the increasing commerciality of the season makes it harder every year to maintain the true spirit of Hanukkah.

This year, we Jews have a unique opportunity to restore a proper sense of gratitude to our Festival of Lights. Hanukkah falls on Thanksgiving, a "coincidence" that won't recur in our lifetimes. I believe God speaks to us in the language of events, and coincidences are exclamations. If that's true, then Thanksgivukkah, which won't return for another 79,811 years, must be an important message.

I looked into the origin texts of the two holidays, and discovered that Thanksgivukkah can save from us from not one but two colossal blunders.

Worse than commerciality, our American Hanukkah has become a testament to assimilation, and that's a blunder because the holiday is specifically about not assimilating. Unlike most of our enemies throughout history, the Syrian Greeks who ruled the Middle East in 165 B.C.E. did not desire to kill or enslave the Jewish people. Jews were free to live among them so long as we gave up being Jewish. They banned circumcision, Torah study, and prayer services under pain of death, and then desecrated our Holy Temple by slaughtering a pig upon the altar in honor of their gods.

Tragically, many Jews gave in to the pressure and chose to lead a Hellenized life of scintillating symposia and idolatry. A few held fast to our then thousand-year-old religion and its precious link to our Creator. War ensued, and against all odds, a small band of warriors led by Yehudah Maccabee freed the Holy Temple from the Greeks. Though the war would rage on for many more years, the Maccabees rededicated the Temple immediately, and a small cruse of oil that should have lit the menorah for only one day burned for eight.

From the very beginning, Hanukkah has been linked to Thanksgiving.

One might have thought that the Sages would institute a holiday like Purim to celebrate the miraculous military victory – a holiday which incidentally includes gift-giving. Instead, the Talmud notes:

A miracle was performed with the oil when they kindled the lights of the menorah. In the following year, the Sages established these eight days of Hanukkah as permanent holidays with the recital of Hallel and Thanksgiving. (Shabbos 21b, B. Talmud)

Imagine that. From the very beginning, Hanukkah has been linked to Thanksgiving, in this case, the thanksgiving blessings we add to the Grace After Meals, thus forever linking Thanksgiving with a festive meal.

It is often said that the Talmud addresses every aspect of our lives, but who would have thought it would presage Thanksgivukkah – a once-in-a-lifetime "coincidence" 2,000 years in the future! As always, there are no coincidences. Now let's take a look at our modern Thanksgiving.

The holiday dates back to the first meal shared by Pilgrims and Native-Americans. Did they assimilate in order to eat together? Of course not. They brought their traditions with them, maintained their identities, and broke bread together in a meal that acknowledged the blessings they collectively received from their Creator. Sadly, such scenes have been too rare in American history.

The calendar oddity of Thanksgivukkah is not actually based on that first meal near Plymouth Rock, but rather on the federal holiday created by Abraham Lincoln in 1863. So it is especially appropriate on this, the 150th official Thanksgiving, to take a close look at President Lincoln's authorizing proclamation, also made in the midst of a grueling war:

The year that is drawing towards its close, has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature, that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever watchful providence of Almighty God ... who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy. It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and one voice by the whole American People. I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens.

President Lincoln established Thanksgiving as a non-sectarian but clearly religious holiday: a time to thank the Creator for miraculous blessings, which include the opportunity to break bread with our loved ones, just as we do in the Grace After Meals.

If we hold on to this Thanksgivukkah teaching, we can forever avoid the blunder of reducing Hanukkah to a commercialized imitation of Christmas.

The Entire People

The second blunder to be avoided is perhaps even more important, and it is a blunder I made even as I wrote this post.

Lincoln issued his proclamation to the "whole American People," whom he asked to thank God with one heart and one voice. He thus spoke not only to the citizens of the North, but also to the ten million rebels of the South. Lincoln refused to judge them, and considered them his brothers and sisters, even though they waged war against him.

How much more then must we Jews refuse to judge our brothers and sisters, especially when we comprise such a small tribe in America, let alone the world. Rabbi Shalom Arush says that the ugliest form of arrogance is when one Jew feels he's better than another. The fact is, it's good that Jews celebrate Hanukkah no matter why they do it. In fact, the Talmud teaches:

The commandment of Hanukkah is one light for each person and his entire household. And those who are meticulous about pursuing mitzvot (commandments) have one light for each person in the household. And those who are most fervently meticulous about pursuing mitzvot... kindle one light on the first night and thenceforward increase the number of lights each night. (Shabbos 21b, B. Talmud)

Hanukkah is thus the one holiday on which all Jews are meticulous! We come together as one people to increase the amount of God's light in the world, and that is precisely our mission. If filling a Christmas void spurs more of us to do that work, fantastic! God loves light, and the more of it the better. Above all, we need unity with one another if we are to fulfill our destiny as a "light unto the nations."

Visitor Comments: 23

Im not trying to denegrade you jews living comfortable american lives or anything.... but when it comes to really living jewish torah life...nothing comes close to eretz israel.

(13)
mitch,
December 5, 2013 7:05 PM

secularizing christmas

The article persuasively shows how many Jews have taken God out of Hanukkah and and commercialized it. But that was arguably the product of the assimilation strategy to secularize Christmas as well. In a time when Jews (understandably) were threatened by public Christianity, we encouraged the substitution of Santa Claus and Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer for Jesus as the symbols of the holiday. December is now a multidemonitional frenzy of commericialism. We would be better off if society (Christians and Jews) returned to a more spiritual, God-centered understanding of the season.

(12)
Beverly Kurtin,
December 2, 2013 6:02 AM

Pardon me?

There are American Jews who do not play the Christian's ways when it comes to Hannukah. The very thought of desecrating my home with a tree that the Druids used to worship and the Christians picked up as a home decoration makes me ill.

I wonder where Mr. Litvak got the mistaken idea that "The problem is that American Hanukkah has become anything but divine. Conscious of the great fun our friends are having with Christmas, American Jews fill the gap with eight nights of presents, glittering decorations, and in some homes, Christmas trees beside the hanukkiyah as a vehicle for even more presents." I imagine that some Jews do that, but I don't know any of them that do not celebrate it in the appropriate manner. Not all American Jews are alike.

(11)
Miri,
December 1, 2013 9:11 PM

I disagree about gifts

While I see your point, that we should not try to force Hanukkah to be a cousin to Christmas, I disagree about gift giving. Christians and secular Americans who celebrate Christmas don't give gifts because of their religion, they do it as a way to celebrate family and enjoy the winter season. I see no reason why choosing to do likewise means we are assimilating. Why should Christians be the only ones who can give gifts? I love picking out little gifts for my five kids, and the joy and sparkle in their eyes does not come from being a knock-off brand Christian! The "real meaning" of the season, IMHO, is family. Coming together to celebrate is always a positive thing, and does not take away from their heritage or faith.

(10)
yosef,
November 28, 2013 10:17 PM

Why "thanksgivukkah?!T

Why even continually mention this ugly artificial word: it only gives it increased energy every time it is seen. There are no easy ways adhering to our own, Non-consumerism ridden values of the Chanukkah spirit - But try we must, with all the intelligence and good will HKBH has afforded us

(9)
Sharon,
November 28, 2013 11:21 AM

not a big deal

Considering that only a minority of Jews live in America, I'd say that Chanukah and Thanksgiving coinciding, is not a big deal. All the Jewish holiday are early this year with respect to the solar calendar. So what!. And in a few hours we light the second candle, not the first as you Americans sit down to Thanksgiving dinner. The big deal shows the egocentricity of American Jews. In Israel, one is as oblivious of Thanksgiving as we are of Christmas.

jacob,
November 28, 2013 10:08 PM

no need to call american jews ego-centric

The article ends with a call for unity for all the Jewish people, and you must call American Jews ego-centric? The article was written primarily for American Jews to read (who are not a minority like you say, more like almost half of the world's Jewish population), so you do not have to read it if you choose not to. We still love you and all our brothers and sisters in Israel!Happy Channukah to all the Yidden!

(8)
Chaim Zalmon,
November 28, 2013 1:17 AM

America was not made to make being Jewish easy

While America was founded on religious freedom it is a place that is harder to be passionate about your religion. I remember my middle eastern history teacher telling me how she has been hearing that muslims are experiencing everything the Jews are experiencing in America. With the PEW study it said that 1/5 of kids from an observent Jewish home go off the derach.

If you want the best place to raise your kids Jewish, you should do what I am going to Israel. That was a country that has been made for Jews to be Jews. There you can show your kids with pride that is where this story took place, and also you don't have to fall victim to what the rabbis were worried about in Eruvin that we should learn from our non Jewish neighbors (the wrong kinds of things).

Beverly Kurtin,
December 2, 2013 6:47 AM

Israel? Please...

Please don't tell everyone they "should" go to Israel. There are many of us who simply cannot AFFORD to pay to go there. I'm one of them and feel as though I've been slapped in the face when people ask me if I've ever been been to Israel.

I no longer give an answer, I simply walk away from the person asking that question because the INSTANT I said no, in the past, I got hit with "Well, why? You really NEED to go."

Do you have any idea of how embarrassing it is to say, "I can't afford it" because the next stupid thing people say is, "well, why don't you save up?"

I'm 73, I do NOT have to go to Israel. My life's savings were destroyed in the Bush recession. And now I don't even get $20,000 a year. How in the name of sanity can anyone SAVE up when it takes every cent to live and pay the bills we all need to pay?

Although I am NOT complaining about not having the wherewithal to do what I would like to do, I do want to let people know that it is downright akin to having someone look down on you. I don't appreciate it one bit and I'll wager that nobody does.May Hashem bless with each Jew on the face of the planet a happy and meaningful Hannukah.

Dvirah,
December 2, 2013 7:45 PM

Help Available

There are organizations, like the Jewish Agency, who will pick up the cost of moving to Israel. Living in Israel is financially easier for Americans on pension as the exchange rate is strongly in favor of the dollar (as I write, the exchange rate is about 3.5 shekels to each dollar). Also, new emigrants get help with housing and other necessities. Naturally it is harder for older people to make radical changes, but one might at least look into the possibility.

(7)
Salvador Litvak,
November 27, 2013 11:06 PM

Thank you, my pals, and WHOA!

Thanks so much for all your comments, my fellow Yidden. Ari, you've spent a little to much time reading revisionist history. The South did not have the right to secede, did not have a right to seize federal armories, and did not have a right to commit treason against a freely elected government, and they certainly did not have a right to maintain their lifestyle on the backs of their slaves. Lincoln was and is a great hero. To learn more about his journey from the perspective of the man who knew him best, see www.SavingLincoln.com

A. Eller,
November 28, 2013 12:02 PM

You have it exactly right.

Based on the history I've read on the Civil War, including a book of all the papers from Abraham Lincoln's term of office), you are correct on the issues of secession, seizure of armaments, forts, and treason. The South did not have such "rights." (The issue of slavery was,unfortunately, one of debate, the question being whether slaves were entitled to equality as defined by the Constitution.)

(6)
Anonymous,
November 27, 2013 6:59 PM

"we don't want our kids to associate being Jewish with getting ripped off" - and this is the root of the problem. The kids will not feel "ripped off" if they don't hear this from adults. If YOU don't raise them to be consumers only, if YOU teach them not to covet (this is a commandment, by the way), if you explain the religious meaning of the holiday - they won't feel deprived. Why YOU feel the need to compare YOUR holiday to another? Revalue your beliefs, then teach your children.

Charnie,
November 28, 2013 6:16 AM

Gifts or gelt

When our children were younger, we did buy some presents. Once they hit their teens we switched them to gelt. Frankly they're making out better then they did before.

(5)
Harriet Fuld,
November 27, 2013 6:34 PM

Excellent true article

Every rabbi should use this as their Shabbos sermon

(4)
Ari,
November 27, 2013 5:52 PM

A little beside the point....

Over all it's a nice message but I got distracted with your horrible representation of the tyrant Lincoln and your accusation that the South waged war with him. The South didn't want a war, they wanted independence which was their right. Lincoln refused to have less power over the already under-represented South and thus you have the war. Not for slavery, but power and taxes. Read A Politically Incorrect Guide to the Civil War

Anonymous,
November 28, 2013 12:12 PM

BETTER YET...

The very last thing Lincoln wanted was war between Americans. Go to the sources. Read Lincoln's presidential papers. In this case,your Politicallly Incorrect means Politicallly Skewed. A great rabbi once told me that the Lincoln was a close to a non-Jewish Tzaddik as is possible.

John,
November 28, 2013 9:05 PM

Lincoln the tyrant?

If you consider Lincoln to be a tyrant, what do yo call the thousands of slave-owners?Who fired on Fort Sumter; Lincoln?Who freed the slaves; Jefferson Davis?I respectfully suggest you answer these questions before you call one of our greatest (and most hated, I know) presidents a tyrant.

(3)
Mati,
November 27, 2013 4:59 PM

Bravo to the author

Do secular and reform jews light candles with xmas being in mind as a competitor and with desire to be like their host country?. If so, then what a contradiction. It is like the Israeli secular goverment using the symbol of the sin of the spies for its tourism symbol. When are our brothers and sisters going to learn that the Shoah was H" trying to teach us something? (Not to assimilate with the nations). Do we blame G-d for the mistakes we make (the secular and assimilation, the religious lack of kiruv to others [turning their faces away from the situation]?) Are we so caught up in the "don't judge" mindset that we refuse to engage our family when they make mistakes? And do we hate the messenger and not listen to our brother when they try to guide us into a higher level of Truth?

Alan S.,
November 27, 2013 9:07 PM

Do you know something that I don't?

The "Shoah was H" trying to teach us something"? Possibly so, but it's too late to tell the children and babies that were murdered among the six million to change their ways and not assimilate. Many great Jewish minds of this century, not withstanding Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, have said that the Shoah has no explanation that we can understand.

Andy,
December 3, 2013 10:30 PM

for certain the shoah tried to teach but what message did we get

Rav Yosef "zl" was on to something but misunderstood.Licolcn seemed a great man

Israel is the land given to the Jews and not attempting to come seems so sad

(2)
grintch,
November 27, 2013 4:28 PM

Hannukah a Jewish "Xmas"?

"reducing Hanukkah to a commercialized imitation of Christmas".

I wonder what celebrating Hannukah would be like if it weren't near Xmas.

(1)
Sharon,
November 27, 2013 3:54 PM

Thank youfor yourr enlightening words...,ay you have a blessed Thanksgivukah

I'm told that it's a mitzvah to become intoxicated on Purim. This puzzles me, because to my understanding, it is not considered a good thing to become intoxicated, period.

One of the characteristics of the at-risk youth is their use of drugs, including alcohol. In my experience, getting drunk doesn't reveal secrets. It makes people act stupid and irresponsible, doing things they would never do if they were sober. Also, I know a lot about the horrible health effects of abusing alcohol, because I work at a research center that focuses on addiction and substance abuse.

Also, I am an alcoholic, which means that if I drink, very bad things happen. I have not had a drink in 22 years, and I have no intention of starting now. Surely there must be instances where a person is excused from the obligation to drink. I don't see how Judaism could ever promote the idea of getting drunk. It just doesn't seem right.

The Aish Rabbi Replies:

Putting aside for a moment all the spiritual and philosophical reasons for getting drunk on Purim, this remains an issue of common sense. Of course, teenagers should be warned of the dangers of acute alcohol ingestion. Of course, nobody should drink and drive. Of course, nobody should become so drunk to the point of negligence in performing mitzvot. And of course, a recovering alcoholic should not partake of alcohol on Purim.

Indeed, the Code of Jewish Law explicitly says that if one suspects the drinking may affect him negatively, then he should NOT drink.

Getting drunk on Purim is actually one of the most difficult mitzvot to do correctly. A person should only drink if it will lead to positive spiritual results - e.g. under the loosening affect of the alcohol, greater awareness will surface of the love for God and Torah found deep in the heart. (Perhaps if we were on a higher spiritual level, we wouldn't need to get drunk!)

Yet the Talmud still speaks of an obligation on Purim of "not knowing the difference between Blessed is Mordechai and Cursed is Haman." How then should a person who doesn't drink get the point of “not knowing”? Simple - just go to sleep! (Rama - OC 695:2)

All this applies to individuals. But the question remains - does drinking on Purim adversely affect the collective social health of the Jewish community?

The aversion to alcoholism is engrained into Jewish consciousness from a number of Biblical and Talmudic sources. There are the rebuking words of prophets - Isaiah 28:1, Hosea 3:1 with Rashi, and Amos 6:6, and the Zohar says that "The wicked stray after wine" (Midrash Ne'alam Parshat Vayera).

It is well known that the rate of alcoholism among Jews has historically been very low. Numerous medical, psychological and sociological studies have confirmed this. The connection between Judaism and sobriety is so evident, that the following conversation is reported by Lawrence Kelemen in "Permission to Receive":

When Dr. Mark Keller, editor of the Quarterly Journal of Studies on Alcohol, commented that "practically all Jews do drink, and yet all the world knows that Jews hardly ever become alcoholics," his colleague, Dr. Howard Haggard, director of Yale's Laboratory of Applied Physiology, jokingly proposed converting alcoholics to the Jewish religion in order to immerse them in a culture with healthy attitudes toward drinking!

Perhaps we could suggest that it is precisely because of the use of alcohol in traditional ceremonies (Kiddush, Bris, Purim, etc.), that Jews experience such low rates of alcoholism. This ceremonial usage may actually act like an inoculation - i.e. injecting a safe amount that keeps the disease away.

Of course, as we said earlier, all this needs to be monitored with good common sense. Yet in my personal experience - having been in the company of Torah scholars who were totally drunk on Purim - they acted with extreme gentleness and joy. Amid the Jewish songs and beautiful words of Torah, every year the event is, for me, very special.

Adar 12 marks the dedication of Herod's renovations on the second Holy Temple in Jerusalem in 11 BCE. Herod was king of Judea in the first century BCE who constructed grand projects like the fortresses at Masada and Herodium, the city of Caesarea, and fortifications around the old city of Jerusalem. The most ambitious of Herod's projects was the re-building of the Temple, which was in disrepair after standing over 300 years. Herod's renovations included a huge man-made platform that remains today the largest man-made platform in the world. It took 10,000 men 10 years just to build the retaining walls around the Temple Mount; the Western Wall that we know today is part of that retaining wall. The Temple itself was a phenomenal site, covered in gold and marble. As the Talmud says, "He who has not seen Herod's building, has never in his life seen a truly grand building."

Some people gauge the value of themselves by what they own. But in reality, the entire concept of ownership of possessions is based on an illusion. When you obtain a material object, it does not become part of you. Ownership is merely your right to use specific objects whenever you wish.

How unfortunate is the person who has an ambition to cleave to something impossible to cleave to! Such a person will not obtain what he desires and will experience suffering.

Fortunate is the person whose ambition it is to acquire personal growth that is independent of external factors. Such a person will lead a happy and rewarding life.

With exercising patience you could have saved yourself 400 zuzim (Berachos 20a).

This Talmudic proverb arose from a case where someone was fined 400 zuzim because he acted in undue haste and insulted some one.

I was once pulling into a parking lot. Since I was a bit late for an important appointment, I was terribly annoyed that the lead car in the procession was creeping at a snail's pace. The driver immediately in front of me was showing his impatience by sounding his horn. In my aggravation, I wanted to join him, but I saw no real purpose in adding to the cacophony.

When the lead driver finally pulled into a parking space, I saw a wheelchair symbol on his rear license plate. He was handicapped and was obviously in need of the nearest parking space. I felt bad that I had harbored such hostile feelings about him, but was gratified that I had not sounded my horn, because then I would really have felt guilty for my lack of consideration.

This incident has helped me to delay my reactions to other frustrating situations until I have more time to evaluate all the circumstances. My motives do not stem from lofty principles, but from my desire to avoid having to feel guilt and remorse for having been foolish or inconsiderate.

Today I shall...

try to withhold impulsive reaction, bearing in mind that a hasty act performed without full knowledge of all the circumstances may cause me much distress.

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